


One Boy, Three Squishes

by AlcoholicWinter



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Aro - Freeform, Aromantic, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Asexuality Spectrum, Demiromantic, ace - Freeform, romance is mentioned in relationship to Larry so if you're super romance sensitive be warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 07:49:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5326391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlcoholicWinter/pseuds/AlcoholicWinter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall is Ace and Aro, and he's lonely. But at least he always has his boys.<br/>.<br/>Prompt: I'd like to read a fic where Niall is demiromantic asexual and he hasn't had feelings for anyone in a very long time and he's feeling a bit down because he still wishes he was in a relationship and he gets comforted by the boys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Boy, Three Squishes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [agrinwithouthiscat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/agrinwithouthiscat/gifts).



"He's nice, isn't he? And cute too. And Harry said he is bicurious so he probably isn't ready for sex and- you fuckers aren't even listening, are ya?" 

Niall was perched on the counter of Harry and Louis' shared flat in London, holding his phone in his left hand and scrolling down some guy's Facebook page. His name was Mark and Niall was almost positive he was Irish, but almost definitely raised in England, and he could easily get lost looking into the depths of stalking if Louis hadn't stood and took the phone from him. Niall whined in protest, trying to grab it back but it was out of reach.

"You don't even know him. Needy isn't cute, Neil." Louis warned, before pointing a finger at his chest and shaking his head.

It was true. Niall hadn't ever met the guy, but after expressing how desperate he was over more than a couple vodka shots with Harry a few weeks back, Harry had been eagerly showing him every Tinder, Facebook, and Twitter of any available person in the area to try and help him out.

With a sigh, he got off the counter and took one glance at the soup that was almost bubbling over on the stove before following Louis into the living room.

"It's been /months/ Lewis. Months. I haven't even had a platonic crush. It's hard." Niall said, in the sort of whine that would have Louis flipping anyone else off but because it was Niall he sighed and pulled him into his side.

Louis still rolled his eyes a bit, because Niall was being dramatic. Louis had been in a relationship with a guy who peed on him for five years now though, so Niall didn't think he would understand. Nobody really ever understood, especially not him though. Louis had went from being with the lovely Hannah to being with Harry, never really experiencing being single like Niall was. 

Niall wasn't just single though. He has always been single, never having a partner of any sorts, and he couldn't just go to the club for a night and bring someone home.

Even thinking about that made him shift in his seat and scoot a bit closer to Louis, as if that could ward off the nasty thoughts about what people do during hookups from his mind. All the pictures from the porn he watched as a teen, the images from sex education class, movies with scenes he never asked to watch, all flashing quickly and bringing the familiar sick feeling to the pit of his stomach.

"Lou, Niall is pale and you don't even notice? This is why Harry never leaves you alone with anything." Liam asked as he walked in, sitting down on the couch. There was more space between him and Niall then there was between Niall and Louis, but it was probably less space normal than friends.

"I'm... Yeah. Not okay. I... Just..." Niall had to pull away from Louis' grasp for a moment to take deep breaths.

The boys knew how to handle his panic attacks. They all were there the first time they took Niall to an American bar, watching the blonde go from just standing on the side and watching everyone dancing to the boy started hyperventilating to the point they had to use Harry's emergency inhaler. They all quickly had to learn to tell the difference between his normal need-space panic attacks and his sex-repulsed ones. 

They were the ones who had to drag him outside and who had ditched the party to comfort him, Zayn pulling his head on his lap and Harry helping him take off his jacket to help him breathe easily. They had to figure out fast what made him feel better and what made him feel worse.

Now Zayn wasn't there, but Louis ran his hand through Niall's hair to push it off his forehead and Liam was offering him water. 

It passed after a few seconds and Niall sighed heavily, cuddling back into Louis' side.

"I just.... Hate being single. That's all." Niall mumbled, which made Liam's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"Aren't you Ar-" "yes, doesn't mean I can't want a relationship." 

Liam quiets down after that and just nods. He's long learned that he shouldn't question people's sexuality, Harry teaching him all the etiquette of how 'the straights should talk to my people. They're my people Liam, ask the gay bears.' And Liam couldn't really argue with that. 

Instead, he just rubs at Niall's thigh to comfort him. They sit like that for a while, harry eventually coming home from the store with a roll of fresh bread in hand. Louis offers to help him get the food but Harry just waves him off. 

"I made the soup, I should serve it." "Yeah Louis, you probably also burned it to the bottom of the pan and I'm not letting you scrape it and put it in Liam's bowl." "Liam likes it" "Liam scoops it into your bowl when you aren't looking!"

Soon Harry's passing out bowls of soup to everyone. He doesn't fit on the couch so he sits on the floor between Niall's legs, knees brought to his chest and soup bowl resting on them.

They all eat and watch Say Yes To The Dress 'because it's our house and if Harreh wants to watch say Yes T'The Dress we're watching fooking Say Yes To The Dress'. It isn't long before all the boys are engrossed in the show, Niall ranting about how the one worker is so judgmental and Liam asking how girls even walk in those dresses and Harry just explaining it all, while Louis blatantly says half the dresses are ugly. 

"At least she got someone to properly propose!" Harry said in defense, holding his left hand up and wiggling his fingers in louis' face.

"I proposed! Just cause I did it a few times doesn't mean each one wasn't magical ya arse!" 

Harry and Louis continue fighting and Niall watches, chuckling at first because they're practically married as is, but his laughter dies off as he starts to imagine himself married. 

It's something Niall's always wanted. Even when he was young, he always wanted to wear the 'monkey suit' and style his hair all fancy and stand in front of his friends and family and say I Do. It was something so engrained in his culture- every month he went to a different wedding, his huge Irish family partying and welcoming the new person to their family and it was something Niall and always waited for.

When he was nineteen and realized he'd barely even had a crush, that caused him to panic. How would he ever get married if he wasn't attracted to anyone?

He'd immediately went to sign up for a dating profile, having Liam and Zayn beside him egging him on and telling him all the right things to say. Liam had experience on dating while not getting exposed, and so Niall listened and made the profile. Once they left, he googled how to make someone like him, and how to make yourself like them.

Six hours later and a few beers, Niall was thirty pages down on a website dedicated to Aromanticism, reading all the different ranks on the spectrum and breathing out like he'd been punched. Every word resonated with him.

The lack of attraction, not desiring romance, all of it. He was hesitant to accept it, to believe that he just hadn't met the right person, but the more he read, the more he was determined he was Cupioromantic.

He told Liam first, because he knew Liam would google it just like he had. And after he did, Liam had promised Niall that he's okay and it doesn't change anything and if he wants a relationship then he'll find someone eventually and so much.

For nearly a year, Niall had felt comfortable being Cupio. When asked he would just say he was Aro, and it did put off most people but he knew that was okay. It wasn't until he was hanging out with Sophia one late night, her laughing at his joke so hard she snorted and him spilling beer all over her chest, only causing her to laugh harder that he felt the pang of romance in his chest. 

That time he couldn't go to Liam. He went to Louis and Harry who had felt so bad that Niall finally had a crush like he had wanted for years but it was on someone he could never have.

The only good thing that came from the experience was that he realized he was Demiromantic. 

Since then Niall has struggled. He knew he /could/ feel romance, and so every time he made a new friend he was constantly waiting for the attraction to kick in. It caused some awkward moments when he tried to flirt, and some worse moments when they tried to seduce him, but usually Harry would pull them aside and just say to ignore Niall.

Niall hadn't even realized he was breathing heavy until he felt Harry climbing up beside him, pulling him onto his lap. Louis quickly adjusted and moved so Niall could hold his hand, and Liam held the water bottle in his hand- just in case.

"Hey, shh. We're sorry." Harry said. "We shouldn't have been so flirty in front of you. We weren't thinking."

"No... No... You guys are cute. I just.... I wish I could have it. I wish I could have a relationship that was as easy as yours." Niall breathed out a sigh and squeezed Louis hand.

"I've always wanted it. But nobody wants a boyfriend who won't fuck them. And nobody wants to date someone who didn't even like them for the first year they knew them." 

Niall's voice had gone soft and he knew he would be tearing up if he was alone, but he tried to hold it together in front of the boys.

They saw through it, all working to comforting him. Soft coos and comforting words whispered to him, promises to always be there for him, begging him to not cry, even bribes that if he calmed down they'd finally go golfing with him. Anything to make Niall feel better about himself.

"You're valid, yeah?" Liam said, because it's something the online forums always said. "You don't have to experience romance the way Allo's do for it to count." 

"Yeah- and sex isn't that important. Most couples stop fucking after a while anyways!" Louis points out, Harry snorting at that and patting Niall's thigh.

"And for now you have us. And we can be your squishies." He said, and Liam corrects him "Squishes! We can be his Squishes." And Niall laughs at that, because that's not exactly what they were but it just showed that they had all looked into this, all took time to try and make him feel better about himself.

"I hate you." He said, and only second later came a chorus of sung " I love you too's!"

They all piled up on the couch, a bad habit they had formed during early years in their careers and never really quit, just becoming one tangled mess of boyband and best friends.

The rest of the night is spent like that. Everyone taking turns with Niall on their lap, watching movies (after Liam spent an hour googling movies that had absolutely zero sex jokes in them because nobody wanted to upset Niall again) and just holding onto one another in support.

Niall figures this is good enough for now. His friends support him, and one quick Twitter search would show his fans support him, and he knows his family loves him regardless of if he ever gets married or if he just moves in with Louis and Harry and becomes their official third wheel. And Niall decides that he just has to let things happen and for now that's good enough.

He's good enough.


End file.
